Lefty ready come rain or shine

P H IL MI C K E L S O N believes the tide may have turned in terms of his ability to cope with a bad weather Open, writes Eric Nicolson.

The practice days at Royal Lytham and St Annes have thrown up testing conditions for the competitors, and if there is more of the same when the real golf begins tomorrow, the fivetime major champion is hopeful his relative success 12 months ago will stand him in good stead.

Mickelson, who tied for second behind Darren Clarke at Royal St George’s, said: “What was so fun about last year for me was that I was able to make a move in horrible weather.

“That’s one of the things that has excited me because historically I’ve not played well in bad weather.

“Now I look at it a bit differently. I almost welcome it in a sense. I certainly have more confidence in playing and competing when the weather presents a different challenge after having had some success.”

Mickelson’s only other near miss atThe Open came at Troon in 2004 when he was third, and he looks back on his preparation for that championship as being responsible for the at home on a links golfer he is now.

He said: “Early that year I started to spend some time with Dave Pelz and learned to not only hit the ball down, but to take some spin off it.

“Before that it didn’t really click.”